Definition:Signature of Quadratic Form

This page is about signature of quadratic form. For other uses, see signature.

Definition

The signature of a quadratic form $Q$ is the number of positive terms of $Q$ minus the number of negative terms of $Q$.

Also see

• Results about signatures of quadratic forms can be found here.

Sources

• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): signature (of a quadratic form)
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): signature: 2. (of a quadratic form)